LET’S talk about nipples. You may not realise it, but they’re actually having a bit of a “moment”.

While the majority of us won’t have spent much time pondering them, these days according to cosmetic surgeons, nipples are big … big business, that is.

It all started at the end of last year when leading names in the US plastic surgery industry hedged their bets and released a forecast of nip and tuck trends for 2017. Surprisingly, the hitherto ignored nipples topped the list. And in contrast to breasts, bigger is not in fact better when it comes to our nips.

According to findings from a survey conducted by the Plastic Surgery Group, patients with smaller-sized nipples were rated to be more attractive than their larger nippled counterparts. This was mirrored by comments from their spokesperson who said that there had been “a 30 per cent rise in women requesting a smaller nipple size in the last year.”

“And in that time I’d say that the number of inquiries have pretty much doubled.”

THE ‘PERFECT’ NIPPLE

But what exactly constitutes a perfect nipple? After all, they come in all shapes, sizes and colours.

Hands down, the most common treatment is the correction of inverted nipples (when the nipple is flat or concave and refuses to protrude or become erect on its own) which affects around 20 per cent of all women.

At the top of customers’ wishlists, according to Rohit, is having a symmetrical pair — despite the fact that most women have — just like their breasts — asymmetric nipples. Second is the size of the nipple and areola (the pigmented area surrounding it) with a preference for smaller. Going back to the afore mentioned study, nipples that occupied between 25 and 30 per cent of the breast were rated highest in terms of desirability.

“I think the ‘perfect’ nipple is very subjective,” says Rohit. “What may be the right size and shape for someone, may not be what suits another patient. We can decrease the size of long and prominent nipples and the areola size can be reduced as necessary.

“When we design the nipple and areola — particularly following breast cancer reconstruction and after breast cosmetic surgery — we aim for area of between 38 to 42mm in diameter and a nipple of approximately 1cm in length.

“For the majority of patients this will deliver an aesthetically pleasing result. The aim is to make things more symmetrical, while always remembering that — as I tell my clients — they are sisters, not twins!”

FAKING IT

If you’re not so inclined, there is an alternative to surgery: Fake nipples.

Of course, Sex and the City was way ahead of the trend back in the early noughties, when Samantha had a dalliance with a pair of silicone nipples that proved to be the perfect man bait.

But these instant nipple erections are no loner only in the realm of TV fiction. For those who, like Sam, want to improve on nature without facing the knife and needle, you can buy them online for around $10 a set.

Designed for use under everything from bras and dresses to sweaters and bikinis, Just Nips’ stick-on nipples come in multiple colours and sizes, ranging from “cold” to “freezing.”

Stick on nipples are a thing and they come in different sizes.Source:Supplied

A NIPPLE REVOLUTION?

The trend may seem symptomatic of the wold’s rapid descent into extreme narcissism. And though you might be left thinking: “what’s next? Fingernail transplants? Tongue lipo? Bellybutton lifts?” For others, the current focus on the nipple is a byproduct of the gender equality campaign, Free the Nipple, which promotes acceptance for women to bare their nips in public.

Whatever your stance, it’s clear that — if the trend continues to gain momentum — we may never look at the humble nipple quite the same way again.